Unai Emery: We Need To Produce In Both Legs

Unai Emery was a consistent performance across the 180 minutes…

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has demanded a consistent performance across 180 minutes in our Europa League quarter-final tie against Napoli, via Arsenal.com.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the game, the Spaniard made it clear that we’re facing one of the favourites for the competition and the lapses in concentration that we’ve seen in previous rounds cannot be repeated.

We lost the first-leg in our two previous Europa League ties against BATE Borisov and Rennes, only to rely on a dominant home display to see us through.

This time, despite playing the first-leg at home, Emery has stressed the importance of maintaining our level for the duration across both ties.

Having said that, we could really do with a comfortable lead to take to Napoli’s daunting San Paolo Stadium.

“I think 50/50. Napoli has a big history like us. Now they are second in the table after Juventus and making a big difference with other important teams,” Emery was quoted as saying.

“They are playing very well. They have come from the Champions League but from a strong group with Liverpool. They were very competitive in this group. I know it’s going to be very difficult for us but we have confidence.

“We know we need to be very consistent in two matches, with big preparation and with respect to them. Also, we want to trust and believe in ourselves. We want to work hard, prepare hard and play hard.”

The Europa League is our final chance of winning some silverware this term and, more importantly, could see us return to the Champions League.

In Emery, we have the man to deliver the trophy given that he’s lifted it on three occasions with Sevilla.

Despite that, there seems to a mental block at the club when it comes to big European ties and the head coach’s biggest task is to make the players believe that they can go all the way.